Kroger Class Action Says Stores Discriminate Against Pregnant Workers

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Supermarket giant Kroger Co. is facing a class action lawsuit that claims the grocery chain discriminates against pregnant employees.

Filed in Tennessee federal court by national legal advocacy group A Better Balance on behalf of plaintiff Jessica Craddock, the lawsuit claims Kroger forced her to take unpaid leave because she couldn’t do any heavy lifting during her pregnancy.

Craddock, 24, has worked at a Nashville Kroger for four years as a deli and bakery store clerk.

At 17 weeks pregnant, Craddock experienced pregnancy-related complications and was put on bedrest for the three days so that she could recover and received a doctor’s note indicating that she should not lift more than 10 pounds.

Prior to that, she was doing heavy lifting at her job throughout her pregnancy and was afraid of losing her job if she could not perform these duties.

When Kroger initially received her doctor’s note with a lifting restriction, they accommodated her by providing light duty work, which she did without issue, the lawsuit states.

About a week later, Craddock’s complications persisted and she returned to the hospital. When she reported to work the next day, the store manager allegedly informed Craddock that she could not work with restrictions because it was Kroger policy that no employees were allowed to work with any restrictions.

“My baby dropped in my cervix due to lifting,” Craddock stated. She says Kroger told her she’d have to go home without pay, and she couldn’t come back to work until she could lift heavy boxes again – one of her job requirements.

“I was in shock,” Craddock told The Tennessean, which is part of the USA Today network. “I was thinking to myself, ‘How am I going to pay my bills? How am I going to provide for my child?’”

Craddock returned to work, but only after being out seven weeks on unpaid leave, according to the class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Kroger violated the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, because Kroger provided work accommodations to other employees with on-the-job injuries, but didn’t permanently provide accommodations to Craddock. She says that forced her to choose between earning income and keeping a healthy pregnancy.

Employees “must risk their health, or the health of their pregnancy, for fear of losing income during a critical period,” the lawsuit says. “Pregnant workers at Kroger should not have to choose between their health and their careers.”

Craddock is calling on Kroger to update it’s policies and practices to make clear that workers with medical needs due to pregnancy will not be pushed out of their jobs.

On May 27, 2014, A Better Balance filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of Craddock.

“We are pleased that our client is back at work with an accommodation, but, unfortunately, we were not able to come to an amicable resolution with Kroger,” said Elizabeth Gedmark, Director of the A Better Balance Southern Office in a statement. “A Better Balance and our client have remaining concerns that this could easily happen again. For a company as big as Kroger to not have a clear policy providing accommodations for workers with disabilities, including pregnancy-related disabilities, is truly shocking.”

The class action lawsuit involves stores in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama, a region that includes 90 stores and more than 12,000 workers, according to court documents.

Craddock is represented by Justin S. Gilbert of Gilbert Russell McWherter Scott Bobbitt PLC and Elizabeth Gedmark and Dina Bakst of A Better Balance.

The Kroger Pregnancy Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Jessica Craddock v. The Kroger Company, et al., Case No. 3:16-cv-02881, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville.